Thursday, October 27, 2016

I'm excited to be included in this group as one of the top 50 cat bloggers. Whoot! You can find the whole list by clicking here. I know many of the bloggers in this group and will be checking out the ones I don't.

My newsletter will be out early next week. Make sure you have signed up! It's easy to do right in the sidebar at my blog.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

We had a fantastic time at the War Eagle Craft Fair last weekend! It poured rain on Wednesday, and that made set-up a bit interesting. We managed to get our tent up between storms, but the field was super muddy and full of puddles. Fortunately, it only sprinkled on and off from there on out. Thursday was still muddy, but thousands of people turned out. The weather was beautiful on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Normally, we freeze until about noon. Not this year. If anything, it was a bit too warm for comfort. You never know what you will get with an outdoor fair.

We tried a bit of a new set up this year, and I was pleased with the results. The display rack made the books more visible, and the signs on the canopy did a better job of advertising what we had to offer among the daze of booth and goods. Someone even suggested that I need a book about ghost cats and dogs. Hmmm. I'll add it to the list of books I'd love to write.

Zombie hoards or shoppers? Sometimes it is hard to tell.
This crowd is crossing over the bridge to the far side of the mill,
but just as many are waiting for their turn to come join us on the Sharp's Field side.

It is a long four days, and it helps to have wonderful neighbors. We were across from La Shay and her hand-painted decor again this fall. Besides the fact that her kids enjoy my books, she and her husband are just fun and entertaining when traffic gets slow at the end of the day. She is taking some custom orders this year, so you should check it out.

While the overall traffic was lighter this year, we still met some lovely new readers. Thank you to Luke, JoHanna, Tasha, Cade, Luke, Emerson, Ryan, LeeAnn, Laila, Witney, AnnaClaire, Miss Tori, Ashly, Heather, Rachel, Emily, Gavin, Lucas, Tyler, Sadie, Julia, Abbie, Vincent, Lyla, Averi, Cassie, Luke, Preston, Rachel, Alexander, Noah, Alexander, and Melanie, who went home with new books. And a special thank you to Becket, who went home with the whole Cats in the Mirror series, and Aryel, who now has all five of my children's books to enjoy.

I snapped this photo as a joke. I thought this Kimba toy was looking at me so sadly because no one had taken her home yet. Within a few minutes, a young man stopped in and bought her (along with a book) and had me sign the tag too. She went home with a very delighted friend.

What was really exciting was to have repeat visitors find our booth. One group was sent on a mission to get Vacation Hiro, and others were excited to get Slinky Steps Out as the new book this year. More than one child told me they have read Why Kimba Saved The World over and over. That is about the best compliment a writer can get. Yay!!

I'm also happy to announce the winner of the free Kindle Fire: Shonda from Red Oak, Texas. Congratulations, Shonda! She says that her daughter is already loving her copy of Why Kimba Saved The World. Outstanding!

Kimba helped me select the winner. At first, she was not terribly interested in all those slips of paper. It was nap time and all that.

But curiosity won out. She came down from her favorite perch and finally touched her nose to one. I pulled it aside, just to be sure. She agreed. "Yes. That's the winner."

Then, of course, she had to play in them for a bit. I didn't want to disturb her fun by trying to get a video, but she chased her tail on the pile and had a lovely time.

Everyone was a winner in Kimba's opinion.

While I was having lunch upstairs, I could hear her singing down in the office. Apparently, y'all met with Pooh Bear's approval as well, so she placed him on the pile.

Seriously. She did this. Adding Pooh to the mix means she is very happy.

We have sold out of Slinky and Max toys, but more are on the way for my next event on November 12th at the Bella Vista Christmas Bazaar. I'm trying for at least one book event a month in 2017, and so far it is all falling into place. Except for January. The weather is too unpredictable to plan anything, and I'll be busy doing final formatting and editing on Dottie's Daring Day then anyhow, still on schedule for a February 1, 2017 release date. The cover reveal should be coming shortly, along with my fall newsletter. Don't forget to sign up here at my blog or at my website so you don't miss out on special Holiday sales.

Now I'm just hoping for more fall-like weather (what's up with this 80 degree stuff?) and getting Dottie off to the editor by the end of the month. Here's to campfires and hot chocolate and all the fun that the chilly weather has in store in the weeks ahead.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Joining the Cat Writer's Association introduced me to this blog, and it is adorable. Click on the link above and you can subscribe and see what other cat information Miss Cuddlywumpus has to share.

Over the weekend I attended the Ozark Creative Writers Conference here in Eureka Springs. Along with meeting some wonderful people, I went home with awards in the two categories I entered. One of those is a picture book manuscript that should maybe get some more attention and submissions!

The next few days are very full with final revisions on Dottie's Daring Day and compiling notes from my beta readers before the manuscript heads to my editor. Yes, I work as an editor, but that doesn't mean my work can't benefit from one. Kathy always finds things I missed and has great suggestions for little tweaks to make things better. A cover reveal should be coming at the end of the month as well. Exciting times! The goal is a February 1st release date.

We are also prepping and organizing to head to the War Eagle Fall Craft Festival. Tens of thousands of people converge on Northwest Arkansas over this long weekend for dozens of different fairs, and we are proud to be a part of it. You can find us in Sharp's Field Thursday through Sunday next to the War Eagle Mill and right across from the bridge.

Once we get all of that settled, my fall newsletter will be headed your way. If you want to get it directly, just add your email to my Reader's Group in the right hand sidebar. You'll get a free short story as well!